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The man on the moon, literally
In 1969, the 39-year-old Ohio-born astronaut became the first person to set foot on the moon, winning decisively for the United States the highly politicized "space race" with the Soviet Union.
Early adventures: Born on Aug. 5, 1930, Armstrong earned his pilot's license at just 16 years of age. Two years later, he joined the Navy and later flew 78 missions during the Korean War, earning a reputation for his poise under pressure. During one of his missions, he managed to land safely after a wing was sheared off when his plane hit a wire. After graduating from Purdue University, Armstrong became a test pilot. He logged more than 1,000 hours in aircraft such as the X-15 rocket plane, which he flew to a record-setting--and, at the time, mind-blowing--altitude of 207,500 feet at a speed of 3,989 miles per hour. In September 1962, Armstrong was selected to be one of nine astronauts in NASA's Gemini program; four years later, he and astronaut Dave Scott were launched into space in Gemini 8 for the first linkup in space with a satellite.
For the history books: On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Mike Collins strapped themselves into their seats aboard Columbia, a cramped space capsule perched atop a towering Saturn rocket, for the Apollo 11 manned mission to the moon. The countdown went smoothly. Five-four-three-two-one. Ignition. The engines belched flames and the rocket lifted off the ground and raced skyward. A mere 11 minutes after liftoff, Columbia entered Earth's orbit, traveling at a speed of more than 17,000 mph. After going around the earth one and a half times, the rockets fired again, increasing Columbia's speed to more than 24,000 mph, fast enough to escape Earth's orbit. For three days, the astronauts raced through the blackness of space on their quarter-million-mile trip to the moon.
On Sunday, July 20, the crew ate a quick breakfast, and then Armstrong and Aldrin crawled through a tunnel into the lunar module (or LM), which would carry the astronauts to the moon's surface. Armstrong fired the engines, powering the LM toward the surface of the moon. After a close call with a crater, Armstrong set the LM down on the moon's surface. "The Eagle has landed," Armstrong reported. With a billion people watching on television, Armstrong and Aldrin donned their space suits, opened the hatch, and climbed down a ladder to the chalky surface, where Armstrong spoke the immortal words: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." After a two-hour moonwalk, the two astronauts left behind a plaque that read, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." Today, the 70-year-old Armstrong lives with his wife on a farm in Lebanon, Ohio.
Words to live by: "Luna is once again isolated," Armstrong wrote in Moonshot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. "Two decades have passed without footfalls on its dusty surface. No wheeled rovers patrol the lunar highlands. Silent ramparts guard vast territories never yet visited by man. Unseen vistas await the return of explorers from Earth. And they will return."
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